Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat representing Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional district, wants to make sure his thoughts on U.S. diplomatic efforts to resolve the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine are clear. 

“Great nations keep their word. We must stand behind our promise to Ukraine to support its security as a sovereign nation... Members of Congress have a responsibility to protect democracy at home and abroad,” said Auchincloss in a statement released on social media on Tuesday night. 

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, is also showing her support for how President Joe Biden, a Democrat, is handling the threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview with Spectrum News, Collins said she had reservations about the Biden administration’s initial approach to the crisis, but that she is on board with its response now.

“The Biden administration is now pulling out all of the stops to try to dissuade the Russians from invading a sovereign democracy. Ukraine has been our partner and deserves our support. Initially, I thought that the Biden administration was a bit slow off the mark and I still believe that some sanctions could have been imposed, on the Russians, for its cyber attacks on the country of Ukraine,” Collins said.

“Nevertheless, right now, the most important thing we can do is to send a unified signal to the Russians, from America, from our NATO allies and from countries in Eastern Europe in particular, that the Russians need to withdraw the more than 100,000 troops that they have amassed on three sides of Ukraine.” Collins said.

While Moscow claims it has no plans to attack Ukraine, its troop deployments to the region have raised alarms in Washington and other western capitals.

On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that they’ve already encouraged U.S. Citizens to evacuate from Ukraine to evacuate.

Both Psaki and Collins said they couldn’t predict what Russian President Vladmir Putin might do next, but the Senator said Russia’s actions indicate an imminent threat.

“For the Russians to deny that they aren’t making preparations for war is simply at odds with the facts on the ground….Russian troops have been amassed on the borders, more than 100,000 of them in a menacing way. They are well equipped. They have medical units with them and I’m very concerned that the Russians are on the verge of an invasion,” Collins said.

At the White House on Tuesday, Psaki said, “We have provided an enormous amount of security assistance to Ukraine to make sure they are prepared.  So, we are working on a number of paths… but diplomacy is always going to be the preferred path.”

She noted that Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron had spoken “twice in the last week.” Biden also met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on Monday.

Macron met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, in talks that lasted over five hours, and then traveled to Ukraine on Tuesday to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“I would just say we’re encouraged by any efforts at diplomacy.  We can’t — we still don’t have any prediction of what President Putin will do.  We can’t control what Russia will do next,” Psaki said. 

In a TV interview on Tuesday night, Auchincloss also discussed ongoing diplomacy efforts by the U.S. and said, “we are willing to talk and listen to Russian concerns...It’s about continued engagement that lets them know where the red lines are. Ukraine decides whether to join NATO, not Russia. That’s not Russia’s decision but it also provides an off ramp for deescalation.”

Senator Angus King of Maine, an independent who causes with the Democrats, was among a bipartisan group of lawmakers who met earlier this month with ambassadors from Eastern European NATO countries to reaffirm America’s resolve against Russian aggression in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has reportedly demanded guarantees from the West that NATO will not accept Ukraine and other former Soviet nations as members, halt weapon deployments there and roll back its forces from Eastern Europe.

The U.S. and NATO have rejected these demands as non starters.

Collins said she, too, “can’t predict” what Putin will do next, but she seemed encouraged the situation could still be handled peacefully.

“I hope that we can dissuade the Russians from going forward with the threat of huge sanctions that would affect Vladimir Putin himself, as well as the Russian banking system and its energy sector, whether that will be sufficient to dissuade Putin from proceeding with an evasion,” Collins said.

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kyiv of sabotaging implementation of the agreements, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing them would be detrimental for the country. 

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter tug-of-war since 2014, when, following the ouster of Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president, Moscow annexed the Crimean region of Ukraine and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in the country's east. The fighting between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces in the east has since killed over 14,000 people.

(AP Reporting contributed to this article)